Wednesday January 26, 2011

Island Wide Clean Up Under Way

The heavy rainfall which inundated Lanzarote during Tuesday 25th January has left island emergency services with a big clean up job on their hands. Up to 240 separate incidents required the attention of the Security and Emergency services during the course of the day, with many roads and buildings experiencing flooding.

The capital Arrecife saw several streets, such as Calle Triana, under water, with local businesses having to bail out their premises with mops and buckets. A couple in Playa Honda were forced to move out of their home temporarily due to more than a metre of flooding in the basement of their property.

Elsewhere a driver had to abandon his car in an underpass between Arrecife and the main motorway where the water had reached over a metre in depth. And even the lower ground floor of the Cabildo building needed pumping out.

In Teguise, the level of rainfall was recorded at 20 litres per square metre whilst on La Graciosa it reached 7 litres per square metre. Numerous streets in Costa Teguise were closed at the height of the storm due to the amount of water on road surfaces, including the main Avenida de las Islas Canarias, the Avenida Jablillo and Calle Los Dragos.

The yellow level warning remains in place today, Wednesday 26th January, as high winds continue to buffet the island, although there is only the occasional shower anticipated in the next twenty-four hours. Gusts of up to 80 kilometres an hour are expected throughout the day, which should gradually die out over night.

However, the weather forecast indicates there may be more rain at the weekend, with the possibility of heavy showers on Sunday afternoon.